Systems and methods for networked music playback

ABSTRACT

An example zone player is configured to receive, from a cloud-based computing system, (i) an instruction for the zone player to accept playback responsibility for a remote playback queue, and (ii) data for retrieving at least a first media item identified in the remote playback queue from a cloud-based media service. The zone player is also configured to retrieve, from the cloud-based media service, the first media item and begin to play back the first media item. The zone player is also configured to request at least one additional media item from the remote playback queue and then (i) receive, from the cloud-based computing system, data for retrieving at least a second media item identified in the remote playback queue from the cloud-based media service, (ii) retrieve from the cloud-based media service, the second media item, and (iii) begin to play back the second media item.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. non-provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 16/389,906, filed on Apr. 19, 2019, which is acontinuation of U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No.15/872,500, filed on Jan. 16, 2018 and issued on Feb. 18, 2020 as U.S.Pat. No. 10,567,831, which is a continuation of U.S. non-provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 14/520,578, filed on Oct. 22, 2014 andissued on Jan. 30, 2018 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,883,234, which is acontinuation of U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No.13/341,237, filed on Dec. 30, 2011 and issued on May 15, 2017 as U.S.Pat. No. 9,654,821, all of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The disclosure is related to consumer electronics and, moreparticularly, to providing music for playback via one or more devices ona playback data network.

BACKGROUND

Technological advancements have increased the accessibility of musiccontent, as well as other types of media, such as television content,movies, and interactive content. For example, a user can access audio,video, or both audio and video content over the Internet through anonline store, an Internet radio station, an online music service, anonline movie service, and the like, in addition to the more traditionalavenues of accessing audio and video content. Demand for such audio andvideo content continues to surge. Given the high demand, technology usedto access and play such content has likewise improved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, aspects, and advantages of the presently disclosed technologyare better understood with regard to the following description, appendedclaims, and accompanying drawings where:

FIG. 1 shows an illustration of an example system in which embodimentsof the methods and apparatus disclosed herein can be implemented;

FIG. 2A shows an illustration of an example zone player having abuilt-in amplifier and speakers;

FIG. 2B shows an illustration of an example zone player having abuilt-in amplifier and connected to external speakers;

FIG. 2C shows an illustration of an example zone player connected to anA/V receiver and speakers;

FIG. 3 shows an illustration of an example controller;

FIG. 4 shows an internal functional block diagram of an example zoneplayer;

FIG. 5 shows an internal functional block diagram of an examplecontroller;

FIG. 6 shows an example ad-hoc playback network;

FIG. 7 shows a system including a plurality of networks including acloud-based network and at least one local playback network; and

FIGS. 8-11 show flow diagrams for methods to provide audio content to alocal playback system.

In addition, the drawings are for the purpose of illustrating exampleembodiments, but it is understood that the present disclosure is notlimited to the arrangements and instrumentality shown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

Wired or wireless networks can be used to connect one or more multimediaplayback devices for a home or other location playback network (e.g., ahome music system). Certain examples provide automatic configuration ofparameters of a playback device to be coupled to a network with reducedor minimum human intervention. For example, a wired and/or wirelessad-hoc network is established to facilitate communications among a groupof devices. Music and/or other multimedia content can be shared amongdevices and/or groups of devices (also referred to herein as zones)associated with a playback network.

Certain embodiments facilitate streaming or otherwise providing musicfrom a music-playing application (e.g., browser-based application,native music player, other multimedia application, and so on) to amultimedia content playback (e.g., Sonos™) system. Certain embodimentsprovide simple, easy-to-use and secure systems and methods formultimedia content playback across a plurality of systems and locations.Certain embodiments facilitate integration between content partners anda playback system as well as supporting maintenance of such content andsystem.

Although the following discloses example systems, methods, apparatus,and articles of manufacture including, among other components, firmwareand/or software executed on hardware, it should be noted that suchsystems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles of manufacture are merelyillustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, itis contemplated that any or all of these firmware, hardware, and/orsoftware components could be embodied exclusively in hardware,exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware, or in any combinationof hardware, software, and/or firmware. Accordingly, while the followingdescribes example systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles ofmanufacture, the examples provided are not the only way(s) to implementsuch systems, methods, apparatus, and/or articles of manufacture.

When any of the appended claims are read to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the elements in at leastone example is hereby expressly defined to include a tangible mediumsuch as a memory, DVD, CD, Blu-ray, and so on, storing the softwareand/or firmware.

Reference herein to “embodiment” means that a particular feature,structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodimentcan be included in at least one example embodiment of the invention. Theappearances of this phrase in various places in the specification arenot necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separateor alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Assuch, the embodiments described herein, explicitly and implicitlyunderstood by one skilled in the art, can be combined with otherembodiments.

Certain embodiments provide a method to provide content to a localplayback network. The example method includes identifying multimediacontent from a content provider. The example method includes passinginformation regarding the multimedia content to a local playback systemincluding one or more multimedia playback devices in response to atrigger. The example method includes facilitating play of the multimediacontent via a local playback network associated with the local playbacksystem.

Certain embodiments provide a computer readable storage medium includinginstructions for execution by a processor, the instructions, whenexecuted, cause the processor to implement a method to provide contentto a local playback network. The example method includes identifyingmultimedia content from a content provider. The example method includespassing information regarding the multimedia content to a local playbacksystem including one or more multimedia playback devices in response toa trigger. The example method includes facilitating play of themultimedia content via a local playback network associated with thelocal playback system.

Certain embodiments provide a multimedia playback device including awireless communication interface to communicate with a local playbacknetwork and a multimedia content source and a processor. The process isto identify multimedia content from the multimedia content source; passinformation regarding the multimedia content to device on the localplayback network in response to a trigger; and facilitate play of themultimedia content via the devices on the local playback network.

II. Example Environment

Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals can refer to likeparts throughout the figures, FIG. 1 shows an example systemconfiguration 100 in which one or more of the method and/or apparatusdisclosed herein can be practiced or implemented. By way ofillustration, the system configuration 100 represents a home withmultiple zones. Each zone, for example, represents a different room orspace, such as an office, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, dining room,family room, home theater room, utility or laundry room, and patio.While not shown here, a single zone can cover more than one room orspace. One or more of zone players 102-124 are shown in each respectivezone. A zone player 102-124, also referred to as a playback device,multimedia unit, speaker, and so on, provides audio, video, and/oraudiovisual output. A controller 130 (e.g., shown in the kitchen forpurposes of illustration) provides control to the system configuration100. The system configuration 100 illustrates an example whole houseaudio system, though it is understood that the technology describedherein is not limited to its particular place of application or to anexpansive system like a whole house audio system 100 of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C show example illustrations of zone players 200-204.The zone players 200-204 of FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, respectively, cancorrespond to any of the zone players 102-124 of FIG. 1. While certainembodiments provide multiple zone players, an audio output can begenerated using only a single zone player. FIG. 2A illustrates a zoneplayer 200 including sound producing equipment 208 capable of generatingsound or an audio output corresponding to a signal received (e.g.,wirelessly and/or via a wired interface). The sound producing equipment208 of the zone player 200 of FIG. 2A includes a built-in amplifier (notshown in this illustration) and speakers (e.g., a tweeter, a mid-rangedriver, and/or a subwoofer). In certain embodiments, the zone player 200of FIG. 2A can be configured to play stereophonic audio or monauralaudio. In some embodiments, the zone player 200 of FIG. 2A can beconfigured as a component in a combination of zone players to playstereophonic audio, monaural audio, and/or surround audio. As describedin greater detail below, in some embodiments, the example zone player200 of FIG. 2A can also transmit a second signal to, for example, otherzone player(s) in the same or different zone(s), speaker(s),receiver(s), and so on. Transmission of the second signal can be partof, for example, a system in which multiple zone players, speakers,receivers, and so on, form a network to, for example, present mediacontent in a synchronization or distributed manner.

The example zone player 202 of FIG. 2B includes a built-in amplifier(not shown in this illustration) to power a set of detached speakers210. The speakers 210 of FIG. 2B can include, for example, any type ofloudspeaker. The zone player 202 of FIG. 2B can communicate a signalcorresponding to audio content to the detached speakers 210 via wiredand/or wireless channels. Instead of receiving and generating audiocontent as in FIG. 2A, the zone player 202 of FIG. 2B receives the audiocontent and transmits the same (e.g., after processing the receivedsignal) to the detached speakers 210. Similar to the example zone player200 of FIG. 2A, in some embodiments the zone player 202 can transmit asecond signal to, for example, other zone player(s) in the same ordifferent zone(s), speaker(s), receiver(s), and so on.

The example zone player 204 of FIG. 2C does not include an amplifier,but allows a receiver 214, or another audio and/or video type devicewith built-in amplification, to connect to a data network 128 of FIG. 1and to play audio received over the data network 128 via the receiver214 and a set of detached speakers 216. In addition to the wiredcouplings shown in FIG. 2C, the detached speakers 216 can receive audiocontent via a wireless communication channel between the detachedspeakers 216 and, for example, the zone player 204 and/or the receiver214. In some embodiments the zone player 202 can transmit a secondsignal to, for example, other zone player(s) in the same or differentzone(s), speaker(s), receiver(s), and so on.

Example zone players include a “Sonos® S5,” “Sonos Play:5,” “SonosPlay:3,” “ZonePlayer 120,” and “ZonePlayer 90,” which are offered bySonos, Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif. Any other past, present, and/orfuture zone players can additionally or alternatively be used toimplement the zone players of example embodiments disclosed herein. Azone player can also be referred to herein as a playback device, and azone player is not limited to the particular examples illustrated inFIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C. For example, a zone player can include a wired orwireless headphone. In other examples, a zone player might include asubwoofer. In yet other examples, a zone player can include a sound bar.In an example, a zone player can include or interact with a dockingstation for an Apple iPod™ or similar device. In some embodiments, azone player can relay one or more signals received from, for example, afirst zone player to another playback device. In some embodiments, azone player can receive a first signal and generate an outputcorresponding to the first signal and, simultaneously or separately, canreceive a second signal and transmit or relay the second signal toanother zone player(s), speaker(s), receiver(s), and so on. Thus, anexample zone player described herein can act as a playback device and,at the same time, operate as a hub in a network of zone players. In suchinstances, media content corresponding to the first signal can bedifferent from the media content corresponding to the second signal.

FIG. 3 shows an example illustration of a wireless controller 300 in adocking station 302. The controller 300 can correspond to thecontrolling device 130 of FIG. 1. The controller 300 is provided with atouch screen 304 that allows a user to interact with the controller 300,for example, to retrieve and navigate a playlist of audio items, controloperations of one or more zone players, and provide overall control ofthe system configuration 100. In certain embodiments, any number ofcontrollers can be used to control the system configuration 100. Incertain embodiments, there can be a limit on the number of controllersthat can control the system configuration 100. The controllers might bewireless like wireless controller 300 or wired to the data network 128.Furthermore, an application running on any network-enabled portabledevices, such as an iPhone™, iPad™, Android™ powered phone, or any othersmart phone or network-enabled device can be used as a controller byconnecting to the data network 128. An application running on a laptopor desktop PC or Mac can also be used as a controller. Examplecontrollers include a “Sonos® Controller 200,” “Sonos® Controller foriPhone,” “Sonos® Controller for iPad,” “Sonos® Controller for Android,“Sonos® Controller for Mac or PC,” which are offered by Sonos, Inc. ofSanta Barbara, Calif. The flexibility of such an application and itsability to be ported to a new type of portable device is advantageous.

Referring back to the system configuration 100 of FIG. 1, a particularzone can contain one or more zone players. For example, the family roomof FIG. 1 contains two zone players 106 and 108, while the kitchen isshown with one zone player 102. Zones can be dynamically configured bypositioning a zone player in a room or space and assigning via thecontroller 130 the zone player to a new or existing zone. As such, zonescan be created, combined with another zone, removed, and given aspecific name (e.g., “Kitchen”), if so programmed. The zone players 102to 124 are coupled directly or indirectly to a data network, such as thedata network 128 shown in FIG. 1. The data network 128 is represented byan octagon in the figure to stand out from other components shown in thefigure. While the data network 128 is shown in a single location, it isunderstood that such a network can be distributed in and around thesystem configuration 100.

Particularly, the data network 128 can be a wired network, a wirelessnetwork, or a combination of both. In some embodiments, one or more ofthe zone players 102-124 are wirelessly coupled to the data network 128based on a proprietary mesh network. In some embodiments, one or more ofthe zone players 102-124 are wirelessly coupled to the data network 128using a non-mesh topology. In some embodiments, one or more of the zoneplayers 102-124 are coupled via a wire to the data network 128 usingEthernet or similar technology. In addition to the one or more zoneplayers 102-124 connecting to the data network 128, the data network 128can further allow access to a wide area network, such as the Internet.

In certain embodiments, the data network 128 can be created byconnecting any of the zone players 102-124, or some other connectingdevice, to a broadband router. Other zone players 102-124 can then beadded wired or wirelessly to the data network 128. For example, a zoneplayer (e.g., any of zone players 102-124) can be added to the systemconfiguration 100 by simply pressing a button on the zone player itself,which enables a connection to be made to the data network 128. Thebroadband router can be connected to an Internet Service Provider (ISP),for example. The broadband router can be used to form another datanetwork within the system configuration 100, which can be used in otherapplications (e.g., web surfing). The data network 128 can also be usedin other applications, if so programmed. Further, in certainembodiments, the data network 128 is the same network used for otherapplications in the household.

In certain embodiments, each zone can play from the same audio source asanother zone or each zone can play from a different audio source. Forexample, someone can be grilling on the patio and listening to jazzmusic via zone player 124, while someone is preparing food in thekitchen and listening to classical music via zone player 102. Further,someone can be in the office listening to the same jazz music via zoneplayer 110 that is playing on the patio via zone player 124. In someembodiments, the jazz music played via zone players 110 and 124 isplayed in synchrony. Synchronizing playback amongst zones allows forsomeone to pass through zones while seamlessly listening to the audio.Further, zones can be put into a “party mode” such that all associatedzones will play audio in synchrony.

In certain embodiments, a zone contains two or more zone players. Forexample, the family room contains two zone players 106 and 108, and thehome theater room contains at least zone players 116, 118, and 120. Azone can be configured to contain as many zone players as desired, andfor example, the home theater room might contain additional zone playersto play audio from a 5.1 channel or greater audio source (e.g., a movieencoded with 5.1 or greater audio channels). If a zone contains two ormore zone players, such as the two zone players 106 and 108 in thefamily room, then the two zone players 106 and 108 can be configured toplay the same audio source in synchrony, or the two zone players 106 and108 can be paired to play two separate sounds in left and rightchannels, for example. In other words, the stereo effects of a sound canbe reproduced or enhanced through the two zone players 106 and 108, onefor the left sound and the other for the right sound. In certainembodiments, paired zone players can play audio in synchrony with otherzone players.

In certain embodiments, three or more zone players can be configured toplay various channels of audio that is encoded with three channels ormore sound. For example, the home theater room shows zone players 116,118, and 120. If the sound is encoded as 2.1 channel audio, then thezone player 116 can be configured to play left channel audio, the zoneplayer 118 can be configured to play right channel audio, and the zoneplayer 120 can be configured to play bass frequencies. Otherconfigurations are possible and depend on the number of zone players andthe type of audio. Further, a particular zone can be configured to playa 5.1 channel audio in one instance, such as when playing audio from amovie, and then dynamically switch to play stereo, such as when playingaudio from a two channel source.

In certain embodiments, two or more zone players can be sonicallyconsolidated to form a single, consolidated zone player. A consolidatedzone player (though made up of multiple, separate devices) can beconfigured to process and reproduce sound differently than anunconsolidated zone player or zone players that are paired, because aconsolidated zone player will have additional speaker drivers from whichsound can be passed. The consolidated zone player can further be pairedwith a single zone player or yet another consolidated zone player. Eachplayback device of a consolidated playback device is preferably set in aconsolidated mode.

According to some embodiments, one can continue to do any of: group,consolidate, and pair zone players, for example, until a desiredconfiguration is complete. The actions of grouping, consolidation, andpairing are preferably performed through a control interface, such asusing controller 130, and not by physically connecting and re-connectingspeaker wire, for example, to individual, discrete speakers to createdifferent configurations. As such, certain embodiments described hereinprovide a more flexible and dynamic platform through which soundreproduction can be offered to the end-user.

Sources of audio content to be played by zone players 102-124 arenumerous. Music from a personal library stored on a computer ornetworked-attached storage (NAS) can be accessed via the data network128 and played. Internet radio stations, shows, and podcasts can beaccessed via the data network 128. Music services that let a user streamand download music and audio content can be accessed via the datanetwork 128. Further, music can be obtained from traditional sources,such as a turntable or CD player, via a line-in connection to a zoneplayer, for example. Audio content can also be accessed through AirPlay™wireless technology by Apple, Inc., for example. Audio content receivedfrom one or more sources can be shared amongst the zone players 102 to124 via the data network 128 and/or the controller 130. Theabove-disclosed sources of audio content are referred to herein asnetwork-based audio information sources. However, network-based audioinformation sources are not limited thereto.

The example home theater zone players 116, 118, 120 are coupled to anaudio information source such as a television 132. In some examples, thetelevision 132 is used as a source of audio for the home theater zoneplayers 116, 118, 120, while in other examples audio information fromthe television 132 can be shared with any of the zone players 102-124 inthe audio system 100.

III. Example Playback Device

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown an example functional blockdiagram of a zone player 400 in accordance with an embodiment. The zoneplayer 400 of FIG. 4 includes a network interface 402, a processor 408,a memory 410, an audio processing component 412, a module 414, an audioamplifier 416, and a speaker unit 418 coupled to the audio amplifier416. FIG. 2A shows an example illustration of such a zone player. Othertypes of zone players can not include the speaker unit 418 (e.g., suchas shown in FIG. 2B) or the audio amplifier 416 (e.g., such as shown inFIG. 2C). Further, it is contemplated that the zone player 400 can beintegrated into another component. For example, the zone player 400could be constructed as part of a lamp for indoor or outdoor use.

Referring back to FIG. 4, the network interface 402 facilitates a dataflow between zone players and other devices on a data network (e.g., thedata network 128 of FIG. 1) and the zone player 400. In someembodiments, the network interface 402 can manage the assembling of anaudio source or file into smaller packets that are to be transmittedover the data network or reassembles received packets into the originalsource or file. In some embodiments, the network interface 402 canfurther handle the address part of each packet so that it gets to theright destination or intercepts packets destined for the zone player400. Accordingly, in certain embodiments, each of the packets includesan Internet Protocol (IP)-based source address as well as an IP-baseddestination address.

In some embodiments, the network interface 402 can include one or bothof a wireless interface 404 and a wired interface 406. The wirelessinterface 404, also referred to as an RF interface, provides networkinterface functions for the zone player 400 to wirelessly communicatewith other devices (e.g., other zone player(s), speaker(s), receiver(s),component(s) associated with the data network 128, and so on) inaccordance with a communication protocol (e.g., any of the wirelessstandards IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.15). Toreceive wireless signals and to provide the wireless signals to thewireless interface 404 and to transmit wireless signals, the zone player400 of FIG. 4 includes one or more antennas 420. The wired interface 406provides network interface functions for the zone player 400 tocommunicate over a wire with other devices in accordance with acommunication protocol (e.g., IEEE 802.3). In some embodiments, a zoneplayer includes both of the interfaces 404 and 406. In some embodiments,a zone player 400 includes only the wireless interface 404 or the wiredinterface 406.

In some embodiments, the processor 408 is a clock-driven electronicdevice that is configured to process input data according toinstructions stored in memory 410. The memory 410 is data storage thatcan be loaded with one or more software modules 414, which can beexecuted by the processor 408 to achieve certain tasks. In theillustrated embodiment, the memory 410 is a tangible machine readablemedium storing instructions that can be executed by the processor 408.In some embodiments, a task might be for the zone player 400 to retrieveaudio data from another zone player or a device on a network. In someembodiments, a task might be for the zone player 400 to send audio datato another zone player or device on a network. In some embodiments, atask might be for the zone player 400 to synchronize playback of audiowith one or more additional zone players. In some embodiments, a taskmight be to pair the zone player 400 with one or more zone players tocreate a multi-channel audio environment. Additional or alternativetasks can be achieved via the one or more software modules 414 and theprocessor 408.

The audio processing component 412 can include one or moredigital-to-analog converters (DAC), an audio preprocessing component, anaudio enhancement component or a digital signal processor, and so on. Incertain embodiments, the audio that is retrieved via the networkinterface 402 is processed and/or intentionally altered by the audioprocessing component 412. Further, the audio processing component 412can produce analog audio signals. The processed analog audio signals arethen provided to the audio amplifier 416 for play back through speakers418. In addition, the audio processing component 412 can includenecessary circuitry to process analog or digital signals as inputs toplay from zone player 400, send to another zone player on a network, orboth play and send to another zone player on the network. An exampleinput includes a line-in connection (e.g., an auto-detecting 3.5 mmaudio line-in connection).

The audio amplifier 416 is a device that amplifies audio signals to alevel for driving one or more speakers 418. The one or more speakers 418can include an individual transducer (e.g., a “driver”) or a completespeaker system that includes an enclosure including one or more drivers.A particular driver can be a subwoofer (for low frequencies), amid-range driver (middle frequencies), and a tweeter (high frequencies),for example. An enclosure can be sealed or ported, for example.

A zone player 400 can also be referred to herein as a playback device.An example playback device includes a Sonos® Play:5, which ismanufactured by Sonos, Inc. of Santa Barbara, Calif. The Play:5 is anexample zone player with a built-in amplifier and speakers. Inparticular, the Play:5 is a five-driver speaker system that includes twotweeters, two mid-range drivers, and one subwoofer. When playing audiocontent via the Play:5, the left audio data of a track is sent out ofthe left tweeter and left mid-range driver, the right audio data of atrack is sent out of the right tweeter and the right mid-range driver,and mono bass is sent out of the subwoofer. Further, both mid-rangedrivers and both tweeters have the same equalization (or substantiallythe same equalization). That is, they are both sent the samefrequencies, just from different channels of audio. Audio from Internetradio stations, online music and video services, downloaded music,analog audio inputs, television, DVD, and so on, can be played from aSonos® Play:5. While the Play:5 is an example of a zone player withspeakers, it is understood that a zone player with speakers is notlimited to one with a certain number of speakers (e.g., five speakers asin the Play:5), but rather can contain one or more speakers. Further, azone player can be part of another device, which might even serve apurpose different than audio (e.g., a lamp).

IV. Example Controller

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown an example controller 500, whichcan correspond to the controlling device 130 in FIG. 1. The controller500 can be used to facilitate the control of multi-media applications,automation and others in a system. In particular, the controller 500 isconfigured to facilitate a selection of a plurality of audio sourcesavailable on the network and enable control of one or more zone players(e.g., the zone players 102-124 in FIG. 1) through a wireless networkinterface 508. According to one embodiment, the wireless communicationsis based on an industry standard (e.g., infrared, radio, wirelessstandards IEEE 802.11a, 802.11b 802.11g, 802.11n, or 802.15). Further,when a particular audio is being accessed via the controller 500 orbeing played via a zone player, a picture (e.g., album art) or any otherdata, associated with the audio source can be transmitted from a zoneplayer or other electronic device to the controller 500 for display.

The controller 500 is provided with a screen 502 and an input interface514 that allows a user to interact with the controller 500, for example,to navigate a playlist of many multimedia items and to controloperations of one or more zone players. The screen 502 on the controller500 can be an LCD screen, for example. The screen 500 communicates withand is commanded by a screen driver 504 that is controlled by amicrocontroller (e.g., a processor) 506. The memory 510 can be loadedwith one or more application modules 512 that can be executed by themicrocontroller 506 with or without a user input via the user interface514 to achieve certain tasks. In some embodiments, an application module512 is configured to facilitate grouping a number of selected zoneplayers into a zone group and synchronizing the zone players for audioplay back. In some embodiments, an application module 512 is configuredto control the audio sounds (e.g., volume) of the zone players in a zonegroup. In operation, when the microcontroller 506 executes one or moreof the application modules 512, the screen driver 504 generates controlsignals to drive the screen 502 to display an application specific userinterface accordingly.

The controller 500 includes a network interface 508 that facilitateswireless communication with a zone player. In some embodiments, thecommands such as volume control and audio playback synchronization aresent via the network interface 508. In some embodiments, a saved zonegroup configuration is transmitted between a zone player and acontroller via the network interface 508. The controller 500 can controlone or more zone players, such as 102-124 of FIG. 1. There can be morethan one controller for a particular system. Further, a controller canbe integrated into a zone player.

It should be noted that other network-enabled devices such as aniPhone®, iPad® or any other smart phone or network-enabled device (e.g.,a networked computer such as a PC or Mac®) can also be used as acontroller to interact or control zone players in a particularenvironment. In some embodiments, a software application or upgrade canbe downloaded onto a network enabled device to perform the functionsdescribed herein.

In certain embodiments, a user can create a zone group including atleast two zone players from the controller 500. The zone players in thezone group can play audio in a synchronized fashion, such that all ofthe zone players in the zone group play back an identical audio sourceor a list of identical audio sources in a synchronized manner such thatno (or substantially no) audible delays or hiccups could be heard.Similarly, in some embodiments, when a user increases the audio volumeof the group from the controller 500, the signals or data of increasingthe audio volume for the group are sent to one of the zone players andcauses other zone players in the group to be increased together involume.

A user via the controller 500 can group zone players into a zone groupby activating a “Link Zones” or “Add Zone” soft button, or de-grouping azone group by activating an “Unlink Zones” or “Drop Zone” button. Forexample, one mechanism for ‘joining’ zone players together for audioplay back is to link a number of zone players together to form a group.To link a number of zone players together, a user can manually link eachzone player or room one after the other. For example, assume that thereis a multi-zone system that includes the following zones: Bathroom,Bedroom, Den, Dining Room, Family Room, and Foyer.

In certain embodiments, a user can link any number of the six zoneplayers, for example, by starting with a single zone and then manuallylinking each zone to that zone.

In certain embodiments, a set of zones can be dynamically linkedtogether using a command to create a zone scene or theme (subsequent tofirst creating the zone scene). For instance, a “Morning” zone scenecommand can link the Bedroom, Office, and Kitchen zones together in oneaction. Without this single command, the user would need to manually andindividually link each zone. The single command might include a mouseclick, a double mouse click, a button press, a gesture, or some otherprogrammed action. Other kinds of zone scenes can be programmed.

In certain embodiments, a zone scene can be triggered based on time(e.g., an alarm clock function). For instance, a zone scene can be setto apply at 8:00 am. The system can link appropriate zonesautomatically, set specific music to play, and then stop the music aftera defined duration. Although any particular zone can be triggered to an“On” or “Off” state based on time, for example, a zone scene enables anyzone(s) linked to the scene to play a predefined audio (e.g., afavorable song, a predefined playlist) at a specific time and/or for aspecific duration. If, for any reason, the scheduled music failed to beplayed (e.g., an empty playlist, no connection to a share, failedUniversal Plug and Play (UPnP), no Internet connection for an InternetRadio station, and so on), a backup buzzer can be programmed to sound.The buzzer can include a sound file that is stored in a zone player, forexample.

V. Example Ad-Hoc Network

Certain particular examples will now be provided in connection withFIGS. 6-8B to describe, for purposes of illustration only, certain basesystems and methods to provide and facilitate connection to a playbacknetwork. FIG. 6 shows that there are three zone players 602, 604 and 606and a controller 608 that form a network branch that is also referred toas an Ad-Hoc network 610. The network 610 may be wireless, wired, or acombination of wired and wireless. In general, an Ad-Hoc (or“spontaneous”) network is a local area network or other small network inwhich there is no one access point for all traffic. With an establishedAd-Hoc network 610, the devices 602, 604, 606 and 608 can allcommunicate with each other in a “peer-to-peer” style of communication,for example. Furthermore, devices may come/and go from the network 610,and the network 610 will automatically reconfigure itself withoutneeding the user to reconfigure the network 610.

Using the Ad-Hoc network 610, the devices 602, 604, 606, and 608 canshare or exchange one or more audio sources and be grouped to play thesame or different audio sources. For example, the devices 602 and 604are grouped to playback one piece of music, and at the same time, thedevice 606 plays back another piece of music. In other words, thedevices 602, 604, 606 and 608, as shown in FIG. 6, form a HOUSEHOLD thatdistributes audio and/or reproduces sound. As used herein, the termHOUSEHOLD (provided in uppercase letters to disambiguate from the user'sdomicile) is used to represent a collection of networked devices thatare cooperating to provide an application or service. An instance of aHOUSEHOLD is identified with a household 10 (or household identifier).

In certain embodiments, a household identifier (HHID) is a short stringor an identifier that is computer-generated to help ensure that it isunique. Accordingly, the network 610 can be characterized by a uniqueHHID and a unique set of configuration variables or parameters, such aschannels (e.g., respective frequency bands), SSID (a sequence ofalphanumeric characters as a name of a wireless network), and WEP keys(wired equivalent privacy or other security keys). In certainembodiments, SSID is set to be the same as HHID.

In certain embodiments, each HOUSEHOLD includes two types of networknodes: a control point (CP) and a zone player (ZP). The control pointcontrols an overall network setup process and sequencing, including anautomatic generation of required network parameters (e.g., WEP keys). Inan embodiment, the CP also provides the user with a HOUSEHOLDconfiguration user interface. The CP function can be provided by acomputer running a CP application module, or by a handheld controller(e.g., the controller 308) also running a CP application module, forexample. The zone player is any other device on the network that isplaced to participate in the automatic configuration process. The ZP, asa notation used herein, includes the controller 308 or a computingdevice, for example.

In certain embodiments, configuration of a HOUSEHOLD involves multipleCPs and ZPs that rendezvous and establish a known configuration suchthat they can use a standard networking protocol (e.g., IP over Wired orWireless Ethernet) for communication. In an embodiment, two types ofnetworks/protocols are employed: Ethernet 802.3 and Wireless 802.11g.Interconnections between a CP and a ZP can use either of thenetworks/protocols. A device in the system as a member of a HOUSEHOLDcan connect to both networks simultaneously. In an environment that hasboth networks in use, it is assumed that at least one device in a systemis connected to both as a bridging device, thus providing bridgingservices between wired/wireless networks for others. The zone player 606in FIG. 6 is shown to be connected to both networks, for example. Theconnectivity to the network 612 is based on Ethernet while theconnectivity to other devices 602, 604 and 608 is based on Wireless. Itis understood, however, that in some embodiments each zone player 606,604, 602 may access the Internet when retrieving media from the cloud(e.g., Internet) via the bridging device. For example, zone player 602may contain a uniform resource locator (URL) that specifies an addressto a particular audio track in the cloud. Using the URL, the zone player602 may retrieve the audio track from the cloud, and ultimately play theaudio out of one or more zone players.

VI. Example Music Sharing and Playback Configuration

Certain embodiments enable a user to stream music from a music-playingapplication (e.g., browser-based application, native music player, othermultimedia application, and so on) to a local multimedia contentplayback (e.g., Sonos™) system. Certain embodiments provide securesystems and methods for multimedia content playback across a pluralityof systems and locations. Certain embodiments facilitate integrationbetween content partners and a playback system as well as supportingmaintenance of such content and system.

FIG. 7 shows a system including a plurality of networks including acloud-based network and at least one local playback network. The networkincludes a plurality of playback devices or players, though it isunderstood that the network may contain only one playback device. Incertain embodiments, each player has an ability to retrieve its contentfor playback. Control and content retrieval can be distributed orcentralized, for example. Input can include streaming content providerinput, third party application input, mobile device input, user input,and/or other playback network input into the cloud for localdistribution and playback.

As illustrated by the example system 700 of FIG. 7, a plurality ofcontent providers 720-750 can be connected to one or more local playbacknetworks 760-770 via a cloud and/or other network 710. Using the cloud710, a multimedia playback system 720 (e.g., Sonos™) a mobile device730, a third party application 740, a retail location 750, and so on canprovide multimedia content (requested or otherwise) to local playbacknetworks 760, 770. Within each local network 760, 770, a controller 762,772 and/or playback device 764, 774 can provide a song identifier, songname, playlist identifier, playlist name, genre, preference, and so on,and/or simply receive content from a connected system via the cloud.

For example, a user listens to a third party music application (e.g.,Pandora™ Rhapsody™, Spotify™, and so on) on her smart phone whilecommuting. She's enjoying the current channel and, as she walks in thedoor to her home, selects an option to continue playing that channel onher household music playback system (e.g., Sonos™). The playback systempicks up from the same spot on the selected channel that was on herphone and outputs that content (e.g., that song) on speakers and/orother playback devices connected to the household playback system. Auniform resource indicator (URI) (e.g., a uniform resource locator(URL)) can be passed to a playback device to fetch content from a cloudand/or other networked source, for example. A playback device, such as azone player, can fetch content on its own without use of a controller,for example. Once the zone player has a URL (or some otheridentification or address) for a song and/or playlist, the zone playercan run on its own to fetch the content. Songs and/or other multimediacontent can be retrieved from the Internet rather than a local device(e.g., a compact disc (CD)), for example. A third party application canopen or utilize an application programming interface (API) to pass musicto the household playback system without tight coupling to thathousehold playback system.

In another example of an application determining a playlist and/or othercontent for playback, a user enjoys listening to music on an onlinemusic service (e.g., tumtable.fm or other virtual room that a user canenter to choose from a plurality of online disc jockeys (DJs) decidingwhat to play next) using his Mac Book Pro™ at home. He likes the uniqueuser experience the service offers, and he frequently hops from room toroom discovering new music. To maximize sound quality, he plays themusic on his household playback system (e.g., Sonos™). A button or otherindicator can be added to the tumtable.fm Web application to switch thecontent being played to the playback system for output (e.g., to theSonos™ system rather than or in addition to the Mac Book™). WhileWeb-based applications typically do not have access to items on a localnetwork, certain embodiments enable a third-party Web-based application(e.g., Turntable.fm) to talk to a playback system (e.g., Sonos™) in acertain way (e.g., may have to log in with a usemame and password), andthe identified user has the website send audio or audio and video downto a playback device (e.g., a zone player) on the playback system localnetwork to play music there (or some other media).

In another example, a first user creates a playlist (e.g., a Spotify™playlist). The first user visits a second user's house, pulls out hersmart phone and shares her playlist by playing it on the second user'shousehold playback (e.g., Sonos™) system using her third party (e.g.,Spotify™) application. The first user may also go to the third partycontent provider's (e.g., Spotify's™) website and share her playlist onthe second user's playback system.

Thus, certain embodiments provide cross-service linking such that a songidentifier can be passed from one user and/or service to another to befetched and played. A user having a playlist on his or her phone canvisit a friend and, using her account on her friend's system, play asong to which she has an access right. A retrieved song can streamedlocally to a user's phone, or an application can pass a song identifierto a local playback system which looks up the song identifier and findsan available audio stream to which the user has a right to play and thenplays that song.

In another example, a user is staying in a hotel room or other facilityincluding a local playback network. For example, a speaker and/or otherplayback device (e.g., a Sonos™ Play:3, Play: 5 and so on) in a hotelroom can be utilized to play multimedia content to which the user hasaccess from his or her playback network account, streaming audio source,third party application, and so on. Content can be output to one or moredevices based on availability, access, configuration, priority,preference, and so on. In certain embodiments, a playback networkincludes a plurality of nodes, and each node has a capability to playsound in response to an input. Requested output is provided to a mostlogical connection, for example.

In certain embodiments, a phone device, a television device, and so oncan be used to play music, audio, video and/or other multimedia content.In an example, a push button on a microphone or household intercomsystem to tell the kids dinner is ready is provided over the localplayback network.

FIG. 8 shows a flow diagram for a method 800 to provide audio content toa local playback system. In the example method 800 of FIG. 8, a thirdparty application acts as a “virtual line-in” to the local playbacksystem. At block 810, streaming of music or other content from a thirdparty application to a local content playback system is triggered. Forexample, a “Play to Sonos” button is pressed on a Rhapsody™ application.At block 820, content is streamed to one or more components in ahousehold playback network. The music may be streamed to predeterminedzones or players in a household, for example. The music may be furtherdirected to be played in different zones or players throughout thehousehold. Playback on the local network can be facilitated to one ormore zones/players based on a configuration (e.g., a zone scene, theme,and so on). Thus, certain embodiments allow a large degree offlexibility in where the music is actually played. For example, themusic can be played in the kitchen, the family room, the patio, and soon. Further, the music may be redirected to different zones.

At block 830, the incoming content (e.g., audio) stream is provideddirectly from a third party application or other external source to thelocal playback network for playback. For example, rather than passingtrack identifiers, an audio stream is provided to a Sonos householdsystem for playback to one or more configured zones. At block 840, thelocal playback system consumes the stream and plays it as it would othercontent on the local playback (e.g., Sonos™) network (e.g., via zonesand so on). At block 850, a playback device (e.g., a zone player,Play:3™, Play:5™, and so on) adds timing information to the streamingcontent signal (e.g., the device takes the streaming audio signal andrepackages it for local synchronized playback). In some embodiments,timing information is not added to the signal unless two or moreplayback devices are configured to play the audio in synchrony.

FIG. 9 shows a flow diagram for a method 900 to provide audio content toa local playback system. In the example method 900 of FIG. 9, a uniformresource indicator (URI) handler approach is provided for contentoutput. At block 910, a link or other reference is embedded in a thirdparty application (e.g., Facebook™ or Twitter). At block 920, when thelink is selected (e.g., clicked), a local playback (e.g., Sonos™)controller, if available, is launched. At block 930, the application(e.g., accessed on a phone, tablet, computer, and so on) passes a URIfor associated content (e.g., an audio track and so on) to a localplayback system (e.g., Sonos™) controller. At block 940, the localcontroller outputs the associated content (e.g., plays the music) viathe URI. For example, music is streamed from the cloud to one or moreplayback devices on the local playback network.

In certain embodiments, an application associated with the operatingsystem can register to handle all URIs (URLs) that start with a certainprefix and can define how data is encoded into those URLs so a localplayback system application can generate a link (e.g., “sonos:”) and putthat link into a message (e.g., email, text message, instant message(IM), etc.). The local playback application registered to handle suchURLs can parse the URLs to determine what song, playlist, streamingradio station, etc., to play. This launches the controller application.For example, if a first listener likes a song and tweets that song,Twitter™ can include a clickable link which launches a playbackapplication and starts the music playing on a local playback system ifthe local system can find the song (e.g., if have the application, ifhave rights/access to the song, etc.). In certain embodiments, thesystem knows to trigger the receiving user's system rather than thesending user's system to play associated content based on thetransmitted link/identifier.

For example, an application can register with the system to handle allURLs that start with a custom prefix (e.g., an HTTP “scheme”). Forinstance, Sonos controller apps can register to handle any URL thatbegins with “sonos:” or “x-sonos:”. In certain embodiments, a playbacksystem provider can define and publish the format of its URLs so thatany third party application can create a link or reference to content. Alarge amount of data can be encoded into a URL using query parameters,for example.

In an example, when an application tries to “open” or “browse” to a URL,the system checks to see if the scheme of the URL matches the “sonos:”scheme that has been registered with the application. If a URL handlerapplication is found, the system launches that application (e.g., theapplication can but does not need to be running in the background) andpasses the URL to the application. The application then parses the URLand executes functionality based on the data in the URL. For example,the URL can contain the name of a music service and a playlistidentifier from that service, plus the name of a Sonos™ Zone Player,causing the Sonos controller to start that playlist playing on thatzone.

FIG. 10 shows a flow diagram for a method 1000 to provide audio contentto a local playback system. In the example method 1000 of FIG. 10, atblock 1010, a link or other reference is embedded in a third partyapplication (e.g., Facebook™). At block 1020, when the link is selected,a playback system (e.g., Sonos™) server is contacted and provided withinformation regarding selected content for playback. For example, ratherthan launching a local controller application, a server is contactedregarding music for playback on a local network. At block 1030, usingthe provided information, the server identifies and provides the contentlocally on a user's local playback system. For example, the server canthen start playing the music directly on the user's Sonos™ system (e.g.,without going through a Sonos™ controller application).

In certain embodiments, a “single sign-on” technology is provided sothat the user does not need to re-enter a username and password in orderto authenticate to the playback server. Example single sign-ontechnologies include Facebook Connect™, Windows Live ID™, etc.

In certain embodiments, instead of using a specialized link, such as a“sonos:” link, a normal URL can be used to point to a playback system(e.g., Sonos™) webserver, which generates links with special dataembedded in the link. A playback system is identified, and contentidentified by the URL can be playing at via the local playback network(e.g., mesh network configured for home, hotel room, etc.). Parameterssuch as authentication, security, location, and so on can be configuredfor local playback of remote content.

FIG. 11 shows a flow diagram for a method 1100 to provide audio contentto a local playback system. The example method 1100 of FIG. 11 providesa “throw it over the wall” approach to content delivery to a localplayback system. At block 1110, a third party application provides amultimedia playback device (e.g., a Sonos™ zone player (ZP)) with enoughinformation about content (e.g., an audio track) so that, at block 1120,the local playback system (e.g., SonosNet™) can directly access a sourceof the content and, at block 1130, play the content directly off thenetwork (e.g., the Internet) or cloud.

In certain embodiments, a local playback controller application is notinvolved. Information passed over to the local playback device mayinclude an identifier for a single track, a playlist, a streaming radiostation, a programmed radio station, and so on. This information canalso include a current play position within a list to enablenear-seamless “handoff” of music from a portable device to a localplayback system. Once the music information is handed from thethird-party application to the local playback system, there is nofurther synchronization between the two systems.

A connection between the third-party application and the local playbackdevice (e.g., Sonos ZonePlayer™) can be direct over a local area network(LAN), remote through a proxy server in the cloud, and so on. A LANdelivery approach may be easier to integrate into “native” applications(e.g., applications written for iOS or Android), and a proxy serverapproach may be easier for third party applications that arebrowser-based, for example.

In certain embodiments, information is provided from a third partyapplication to a local playback system without being routed through orby a controller application. Here, the third party application iscommunicating with the multimedia playback device (e.g., a SonosZonePlayer™). Information can be passed locally, rather than through theInternet, for example. The local playback device accesses the Internetto find content to stream, and the third party application takes theplace of the controller application (e.g., throw it over the wall—theapplication passes information and the local playback system runs it).

Certain embodiments provide an approach similar to the “throw it overthe wall” or one way communication approach of FIG. 11 except that thethird party application not only tells the local playback system what toplay, but also maintains two-way communication with the local playback(e.g., Sonos™) system. Two-way communication helps enable features suchas keeping a local playback queue synchronized with a queue that theuser is editing/managing in the third party application; allow the thirdparty application to know what is currently playing on the localplayback system; allow integrated transport control between the thirdparty application and the local playback system; and so on.

In certain embodiments, a local playback system can pass informationback to a third party application to indicate a current point ofplayback (e.g., now playing a third song in a playlist, fourth song inthe playlist, and so on). The local playback system can pass parameterinformation, such as a change in volume, from a local multimediaplayback device to the third party application so the application canreflect the change in volume to the user via its graphical userinterface. The third party application can instruct the local playbacksystem to skip a song, go to a certain location, and so on.

Certain embodiments provide a third party mode that allows users toselect from any local playback network (e.g., Sonos™) controller tolisten to audio from one or more third party applications on theirsmartphones or tablets (e.g., Android™ devices). For example, a user maybe using a local playback network controller application and now wants athird party application to appear as an audio source within thecontroller application. The user can then select the controllerapplication that he or she wishes to play audio from the third partyapplication, for example.

Certain embodiments provide queue management to allow a third partyapplication to control a local playback queue. That is, the localplayback system has a queue, but the third party application allowsusers to add, delete and so on from the queue, for example. Rather thanswitch from content that the user is currently playing, the localplayback system allows a user to create a playlist on the fly. Forexample, if last.fm users vote that they do not like a song and itshould be skipped, then the local playback system will skip it.

Certain embodiments allow a third party application to override a localplayback queue with its own application-specific queue. The localplayback system periodically fetches a short list of tracks to playnext. The list of tracks to play is determined by the third-partyapplication, for example. In certain embodiments, a shared queue isprovided between the local playback system and the third partyapplication to keep the local system and application synchronized.

Certain embodiments allow control of playback system functions and/orsettings via an external (e.g., third party) application. For example, alocal playback system can allow volume control, play/pause, and so onand can interact with an application running on a givenplatform/operating system (OS). Certain embodiments provide a Web APIthat can be used to access functionality.

Certain embodiments facilitate control of a local playback system fromoutside a household or other location at which the local playbacknetwork is configured. For example, a user can queue up music while awayfrom his or her house. The application can facilitate setup and/orconfiguration. For example, a third party application may ask the userto enter a Sonos customer email address and password. The applicationcan then make a request to a Sonos server in the cloud to determine thezone groups on which music can be played.

Various inventions have been described in sufficient detail with acertain degree of particularity. It is understood to those skilled inthe art that the present disclosure of embodiments has been made by wayof examples only and that numerous changes in the arrangement andcombination of parts can be resorted without departing from the spiritand scope of the present disclosure as claimed. While the embodimentsdiscussed herein can appear to include some limitations as to thepresentation of the information units, in terms of the format andarrangement, the embodiments have applicability well beyond suchembodiment, which can be appreciated by those skilled in the art.Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by theappended claims rather than the forgoing description of embodiments.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A zone player comprising: a networkinterface that is configured to communicatively couple the zone playerto a cloud-based computing system via at least one data network; atleast one processor; a tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium; and program instructions stored on the tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least oneprocessor such that the zone player is configured to: provide, via thenetwork interface to the cloud-based computing system, an indicationthat the zone player is available for media play back; based in part onproviding the indication, receive, via the network interface from thecloud-based computing system, (i) an instruction for the zone player toaccept playback responsibility for a remote playback queue that isprovided between the zone player and a client station installed with amedia-playback application, wherein the remote playback queue iseditable via the media-playback application and comprises dataidentifying a set of one or more media items for play back, and (ii)data for retrieving at least a first media item identified in the remoteplayback queue from a cloud-based media service; after receiving theinstruction and the data for retrieving at least the first media item,populate a local playback queue maintained by the zone player with thedata for retrieving at least the first media item; after populating thelocal playback queue with the data for retrieving at least the firstmedia item (i) use the data for retrieving at least the first media itemto retrieve, via the network interface from the cloud-based mediaservice, the first media item, and (ii) begin to play back the firstmedia item; after beginning to play back the first media item, requestat least one additional media item from the remote playback queue; afterrequesting the at least one additional media item from the remoteplayback queue, (i) receive, via the network interface from thecloud-based computing system, data for retrieving at least a secondmedia item identified in the remote playback queue from the cloud-basedmedia service, (ii) populate the local playback queue with the data forretrieving at least the second media item; and after populating thelocal playback queue with the data for retrieving at least the secondmedia item, (i) use the data for retrieving at least the second mediaitem to retrieve, via the network interface from the cloud-based mediaservice, the second media item, and (ii) begin to play back the secondmedia item.
 2. A system comprising: a zone player configured tocommunicate over at least one data network; and a cloud-based computingsystem configured to communicate over at least one data network; thezone player comprising: a first network interface that is configured tocommunicatively couple the zone player to the cloud-based computingsystem; at least one first processor; a first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium; and program instructions stored on the firsttangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one first processor such that the zone player is configuredto: provide, via the first network interface to the cloud-basedcomputing system, a first indication that the zone player is availablefor media play back; based in part on providing the first indication,receive, via the first network interface from the cloud-based computingsystem, (i) an instruction for the zone player to accept playbackresponsibility for a remote playback queue that is provided between thezone player and a client station installed with a media-playbackapplication, wherein the remote playback queue comprises dataidentifying a set of one or more media items for play back, and (ii)data for retrieving at least a first media item identified in the remoteplayback queue from a cloud-based media service; after receiving theinstruction and the data for retrieving at least the first media item,(i) use the data for retrieving at least the first media item toretrieve, via the first network interface from the cloud-based mediaservice, the first media item, and (ii) begin to play back the firstmedia item; after beginning to play back the first media item, requestat least one additional media item from the remote playback queue; andafter requesting the at least one additional media item from the remoteplayback queue, (i) receive, via the first network interface from thecloud-based computing system, data for retrieving at least a secondmedia item identified in the remote playback queue from the cloud-basedmedia service, (ii) use the data for retrieving at least the secondmedia item to retrieve, via the first network interface from thecloud-based media service, the second media item, and (iii) begin toplay back the second media item; the cloud-based computing systemcomprising: at least one second network interface that is configured tocommunicatively couple the cloud-based computing system to the zoneplayer; at least one second processor; at least one second tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium; and program instructions storedon the at least one second tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium that are executable by the at least one second processor suchthat the cloud-based computing system is configured to: receive, via theat least one second network interface from the zone player, the firstindication that the zone player is available for media play back; andtransmit, to the zone player, (i) the instruction for the zone player toaccept playback responsibility for the remote playback queue, and (ii)data for retrieving at least the first media item identified in theremote playback queue from the cloud-based media service.
 3. The systemof claim 2, wherein the zone player further comprises programinstructions stored on the first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the zone player is configured to: after receivingthe data for retrieving at least the first media item in the remoteplayback queue and before using the data for retrieving at least thefirst media item to retrieve the first media item, populate a localplayback queue maintained by the zone player with the data forretrieving at least the first media item; and after receiving the datafor retrieving at least the second media item in the remote playbackqueue and before using the data for retrieving at least the second mediaitem to retrieve the second media item, populate the local playbackqueue maintained by the zone player with the data for retrieving atleast the second media item.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the setof one or more media items comprises a playlist with a plurality ofmedia items, and wherein: the program instructions stored on the firsttangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one first processor such that the zone player is configuredto request at least one additional media item from the remote playbackqueue comprise program instructions stored on the first tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the atleast one first processor such that the zone player is configured torequest two or more additional media items from the remote playbackqueue.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the data for retrieving atleast the second media item identified in the remote playback queuecomprises a URI for the second media item in the remote playback queue,and wherein: the program instructions stored on the first tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the atleast one first processor such that the zone player is configured toreceive the data for retrieving at least the second media itemidentified in the remote playback queue comprise program instructionsstored on the first tangible, non-transitory computer-readable mediumthat are executable by the at least one first processor such that thezone player is configured to, after requesting the two or moreadditional media items from the remote playback queue, receive, via thefirst network interface from the cloud-based computing system, asequence of two or more URIs that includes the URI for the second mediaitem as well as a respective URI for each of one or more additionalmedia items identified in the remote playback queue; and the zone playerfurther comprises program instructions stored on the first tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the atleast one first processor such that the zone player is configured topopulate a local playback queue maintained by the zone player with thesequence of URIs.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein the zone player is afirst zone player and is communicatively coupled to a second zoneplayer, and wherein: the program instructions stored on the firsttangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one first processor such that the first zone player isconfigured to begin to play back the first media item comprise programinstructions stored on the first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the first zone player is configured to begin to playback the first media item in synchrony with play back by the second zoneplayer of the first media item.
 7. The system of claim 2, wherein thezone player is a first zone player and is communicatively coupled to asecond zone player, and wherein: the program instructions stored on thefirst tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that areexecutable by the at least one first processor such that the first zoneplayer is configured to begin to play back the first media item compriseprogram instructions stored on the first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the first zone player is configured to begin to playback a first channel of the first media item in synchrony with play backby the second zone player of a second channel of the first media item.8. The system of claim 2, wherein the zone player further comprisesprogram instructions stored on the first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the zone player is configured to: after beginning toplay back the first media item, transmit, via the first networkinterface to the cloud-based computing system, an indication that thezone player is currently playing the first media item; and afterbeginning to play back the second media item, transmit, via the firstnetwork interface to the cloud-based computing system, an indicationthat the zone player is currently playing the second media item.
 9. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the remote playback queue is editable via themedia-playback application.
 10. The system of claim 2, wherein the datafor retrieving at least the first media item identified in the remoteplayback queue comprises a URI for the first media item in the remoteplayback queue, and wherein the data for retrieving at least the secondmedia item identified in the remote playback queue comprises a URI forthe second media item in the remote playback queue.
 11. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the cloud-based computing system further comprisesprogram instructions that are executable by the at least one secondprocessor such that the cloud-based computing system is configured to:transmit, via the second network interface to the client station, asecond indication that at least the zone player is available for playback of media from the cloud-based media service; receive, via thesecond network interface from the client station, a third indicationthat at least the zone player has been selected to play back media fromthe cloud-based media service; provide the remote playback queue betweenthe zone player and the client station; maintain a current point of playback of the zone player within the remote playback queue; and cause, viathe at least one second network interface, the client station to displaya representation of a media item that corresponds to the current pointof play back of the zone player within the remote playback queue. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein the cloud-based computing system furthercomprises program instructions that are executable by the at least onesecond processor such that the cloud-based computing system isconfigured to: receive, via the at least one second network interfacefrom the zone player, a fourth indication that the zone player iscurrently playing the first media item; and based on the fourthindication, update the current point of play back of the zone playerwithin the remote playback queue to reflect that the zone player iscurrently playing the first media item.
 13. A system comprising: a zoneplayer configured to communicate over at least one data network; and aclient station configured to communicate over at least one data networkand installed with a media-playback application; the zone playercomprising: a first network interface that is configured tocommunicatively couple the zone player to a cloud-based computingsystem; at least one first processor; a first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium; and program instructions stored on the firsttangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one first processor such that the zone player is configuredto: provide, via the first network interface to the cloud-basedcomputing system, an indication that the zone player is available formedia play back; based in part on providing the indication, receive, viathe first network interface from the cloud-based computing system, (i)an instruction for the zone player to accept playback responsibility fora remote playback queue that is provided between the zone player and theclient station, wherein the remote playback queue comprises dataidentifying a set of one or more media items for play back, and (ii)data for retrieving at least a first media item identified in the remoteplayback queue from a cloud-based media service; after receiving theinstruction and the data for retrieving at least the first media item,(i) use the data for retrieving at least the first media item toretrieve, via the first network interface from the cloud-based mediaservice, the first media item, and (ii) begin to play back the firstmedia item; after beginning to play back the first media item, requestat least one additional media item from the remote playback queue; andafter requesting the at least one additional media item from the remoteplayback queue, (i) receive, via the first network interface from thecloud-based computing system, data for retrieving at least a secondmedia item identified in the remote playback queue from the cloud-basedmedia service, (ii) use the data for retrieving at least the secondmedia item to retrieve, via the network interface from the cloud-basedmedia service, the second media item, and (iii) begin to play back thesecond media item; the client station comprising: a second networkinterface that is configured to communicatively couple the clientstation to the cloud-based computing system; a user interface; at leastone second processor; a second tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium; and program instructions stored on the secondtangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one second processor such that the client station isconfigured to: operate in a first mode in which the client station isconfigured to play back media from the cloud-based media service; whileoperating in the first mode, (i) receive, via the second networkinterface from the cloud-based computing system, the indication that atleast the zone player is available for play back of media from thecloud-based media service, (ii) detect, via the user interface, aselection of an indicator that facilitates transfer of playbackresponsibility from the client station to the zone player; and inresponse to detecting the selection of the indicator, transmit, via thesecond network interface to the cloud-based computing system, theinstruction for the zone player to accept playback responsibility forthe remote playback queue.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein theprogram instructions that are executable by the at least one secondprocessor such that the client station is configured to operate in thefirst mode comprise program instructions that are executable by the atleast one second processor such that the client station is configured toplay back media from a local playback queue that is associated with themedia-playback application for the cloud-based media service, whereinthe local playback queue comprises data identifying one or more mediaitems from the cloud-based media service that are queued for play backby the client station, and wherein the remote playback queue issynchronized with the local playback queue associated with themedia-playback application for the cloud-based media service such thatthe remote playback queue comprises data identifying at least a portionof the one or more media items from the cloud-based media service thatwere identified in the local playback queue associated with themedia-playback application.
 15. The system of claim 13, wherein theclient station further comprises program instructions that areexecutable by the at least one second processor such that the clientstation is configured to: in response to detecting the selection of theindicator, transition the client station from operating in the firstmode to operating in a second mode in which the client station is nolonger configured to play back media from the cloud-based media serviceand is instead configured to control the zone player's playback of mediafrom the cloud-based media service.
 16. The system of claim 15, whereinthe client station further comprises program instructions that areexecutable by the at least one second processor such that the clientstation is configured to: while operating in the second mode, receive,via the second network interface from the cloud-based computing system,an indication of a given media item in the remote playback queue thatthe zone player is currently playing; and display, via the userinterface and the media-playback application, a representation of thegiven media item in the remote playback queue that the zone player iscurrently playing.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein the zone playeris a first zone player and is communicatively coupled to a second zoneplayer, and wherein: the program instructions stored on the firsttangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one first processor such that the first zone player isconfigured to begin to play back the first media item comprise programinstructions stored on the first tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the first zone player is configured to begin to playback a first channel of the first media item in synchrony with play backby the second zone player of a second channel of the first media item.18. The system of claim 13, wherein the zone player is a first zoneplayer and is communicatively coupled to a second zone player, andwherein: the program instructions stored on the first tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable by the atleast one first processor such that the first zone player is configuredto begin to play back the first media item comprise program instructionsstored on the first tangible, non-transitory computer-readable mediumthat are executable by the at least one first processor such that thefirst zone player is configured to begin to play back the first mediaitem in synchrony with play back by the second zone player of the firstmedia item.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein: the programinstructions that are executable by the at least one second processorsuch that the client station is configured to receive the indicationthat at least the zone player is available for play back of media fromthe cloud-based media service comprise program instructions that areexecutable by the at least one second processor such that the clientstation is configured to, while operating in the first mode, receive anindication that at least a first zone group is available for play backof media from the cloud-based media service, wherein the first zonegroup comprises the first zone player and a second zone player.
 20. Thesystem of claim 19, wherein the indicator represents the first zonegroup that comprises the first zone player, and wherein: the programinstructions that are executable by the at least one second processorsuch that the client station is configured to, in response to detectingthe selection of the indicator that represents the first zone player,(i) transmit, via the second network interface to the cloud-basedcomputing system, the instruction for the zone player to accept playbackresponsibility for the remote playback queue, and (ii) transition theclient station from operating in the first mode to operating in a secondmode in which the client station is no longer configured to play backmedia from the cloud-based media service and is instead configured tocontrol the zone player's playback of media from the cloud-based mediaservice comprise program instructions that are executable by the atleast one second processor such that the client station is configuredto: in response to detecting the selection of the indicator thatrepresents the first zone group, (i) transmit, via the second networkinterface to the cloud-based computing system, the instruction for thefirst zone group to accept playback responsibility for the remoteplayback queue, and (ii) transition the client station from operating inthe first mode to operating in a second mode in which the client stationis no longer configured to play back media from the cloud-based mediaservice and is instead configured to control the first zone group'splayback of media from the cloud-based media service.
 21. The system ofclaim 13, wherein the remote playback queue is editable via themedia-playback application.
 22. The system of claim 13, wherein the zoneplayer further comprises program instructions stored on the firsttangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium that are executable bythe at least one first processor such that the zone player is configuredto: after receiving the data for retrieving at least the first mediaitem in the remote playback queue and before using the data forretrieving at least the first media item to retrieve the first mediaitem, populate a local playback queue maintained by the zone player withthe data for retrieving at least the first media item; and afterreceiving the data for retrieving at least the second media item in theremote playback queue and before using the data for retrieving at leastthe second media item to retrieve the second media item, populate thelocal playback queue maintained by the zone player with the data forretrieving at least the second media item.
 23. A system comprising: acloud-based computing system configured to communicate over at least onedata network; and a client station configured to communicate over atleast one data network and installed with a media-playback applicationfor a cloud-based media service; the cloud-based computing systemcomprising: at least one first network interface that is configured tocommunicatively couple the cloud-based computing system to a zoneplayer; at least one first processor; at least one first tangible,non-transitory computer-readable medium; and program instructions storedon the at least one first tangible, non-transitory computer-readablemedium that are executable by the at least one first processor such thatthe cloud-based computing system is configured to: receive, via the atleast one first network interface from the zone player, a firstindication that the zone player is available for media play back ofmedia; transmit, via the at least one first network interface to theclient station, a second indication that at least the zone player isavailable for play back of media from the cloud-based media service;receive, via the at least one first network interface from the clientstation, a third indication that at least the zone player has beenselected to play back media from the cloud-based media service; providea remote playback queue that is associated with the zone player and theclient station, wherein the remote playback queue comprises dataidentifying a set of one or more media items for play back; and based onreceiving the third indication, transmit, via the at least one firstnetwork interface to the zone player, (i) an instruction for the zoneplayer to accept playback responsibility for the remote playback queueand (ii) data for retrieving at least a first media item identified inthe remote playback queue from the cloud-based media service; the clientstation comprising: a second network interface that is configured tocommunicatively couple the client station to the cloud-based computingsystem; a user interface; at least one second processor; a secondtangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium; and programinstructions stored on the second tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable medium that are executable by the at least one secondprocessor such that the client station is configured to: operate in afirst mode in which the client station is configured to play back mediafrom the cloud-based media service; while operating in the first mode,detect, via the user interface, a selection of an indicator thatfacilitates transfer of playback responsibility from the client stationto the zone player; and in response to detecting the selection of theindicator, transmit, via the second network interface to the cloud-basedcomputing system, the instruction for the zone player to accept playbackresponsibility for the remote playback queue.
 24. The system of claim23, wherein the program instructions that are executable by the at leastone second processor such that the client station is configured tooperate in the first mode comprise program instructions that areexecutable by the at least one second processor such that the clientstation is configured to play back media from a local playback queuethat is associated with the media-playback application for thecloud-based media service, wherein the local playback queue comprisesdata identifying one or more media items from the cloud-based mediaservice that are queued for play back by the client station, and whereinthe remote playback queue is synchronized with the local playback queueassociated with the media-playback application for the cloud-based mediaservice such that the remote playback queue comprises data identifyingat least a portion of the one or more media items from the cloud-basedmedia service that were identified in the local playback queueassociated with the media-playback application.
 25. The system of claim23, wherein the cloud-based computing system further comprises programinstructions that are executable by the at least one first processorsuch that the cloud-based computing system is configured to: maintain acurrent point of play back of the zone player within the remote playbackqueue; and transmit, via the at least one first network interface to theclient station, an indication of the current point of play back; andwherein the client station further comprises program instructions thatare executable by the at least one second processor such that the clientstation is configured to: receive, via the second network interface, theindication of the current point of play back; and based on the receivedindication of the current point of play back, display a representationof a media item that corresponds to the current point of play back ofthe zone player within the remote playback queue.
 26. The system ofclaim 25, wherein the cloud-based computing system further comprisesprogram instructions that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the cloud-based computing system is configured to:receive, via the at least one first network interface from the zoneplayer, a fourth indication that the zone player is currently playingthe first media item; and based on the fourth indication, update thecurrent point of play back of the zone player within the remote playbackqueue to reflect that the zone player is currently playing the firstmedia item.
 27. The system of claim 23, wherein the cloud-basedcomputing system further comprises program instructions that areexecutable by the at least one first processor such that the cloud-basedcomputing system is configured to: while the zone player is playing backthe first media item identified in the remote playback queue, receive,via the at least one first network interface from the zone player, afourth indication that the zone player is ready for a next one or moremedia items identified in the remote playback queue; and after receivingthe fourth indication that the zone player is ready for the next one ormore media items identified in the remote playback queue, transmit, viathe at least one first network interface to the zone player, data forretrieving at least a second media item identified in the remoteplayback queue from the cloud-based media service.
 28. The system ofclaim 27, wherein the cloud-based computing system further comprisesprogram instructions that are executable by the at least one firstprocessor such that the cloud-based computing system is configured to:after receiving the fourth indication that the zone player is ready forthe next one or more media items identified in the remote playbackqueue, transmit, via the at least one first network interface to theclient station, an indication that the zone player is currently playingthe second media item; wherein the client station further comprisesprogram instructions that are executable by the at least one secondprocessor such that the client station is configured to: receive, viathe second network interface, the indication that the zone player iscurrently playing the second media item; and based on the receivedindication that the zone player is currently playing the second mediaitem, display a representation reflecting that the zone player iscurrently playing the second media item.
 29. The system of claim 23,wherein the remote playback queue is editable via the media-playbackapplication.
 30. The system of claim 23, wherein the client stationfurther comprises program instructions that are executable by the atleast one second processor such that the client station is configuredto: in response to detecting the selection of the indicator, transitionthe client station from operating in the first mode to operating in asecond mode in which the client station is no longer configured to playback media from the cloud-based media service and is instead configuredto control the zone player's playback of media from the cloud-basedmedia service.